


Worth A Thousand Words

by extasiswings



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Different Fire Houses AU, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27811879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extasiswings/pseuds/extasiswings
Summary: It starts by accident, but somehow Eddie starts looking forward to seeing the other man, wherever he happens to show up.For the prompt:eye contact is way more intimate than words will ever be.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Comments: 25
Kudos: 390





	Worth A Thousand Words

**Author's Note:**

> I got the prompt and told myself I wasn't allowed to make it angsty...much. So, here you go! It is...what it is.

It starts by accident.

Eddie only ends up in the coffee shop because Christopher is at a friend’s birthday party and he feels like if he goes home he’ll end up climbing the walls until it’s time to pick him up again. It’s a little crowded, being a Saturday afternoon, but he still manages to steal an open table in the corner when he gets his coffee. He pulls out the journal he’s been working in for therapy and settles in, shooting off a text to Lena before setting his phone aside, resolving to not check it every five seconds worrying about his son. 

It’s been maybe forty minutes when he hears the laugh, glancing up to see a blond man across the room, sitting at a table with a redhead who has a smile like a shark. The man has an easy smile on his lips, but there’s tension in the line of his shoulders, at the corners of his eyes. As Eddie watches, the woman reaches across the table and slides her hand up the man’s arm, wickedly sharp-looking nails dragging over his forearm when she pulls back. Eddie winces in sympathy.

The next moment, the woman pushes her chair back and heads in the direction of the restrooms, and the man—the fake smile drops instantly and he rubs at his forehead before pulling out his phone and texting someone furiously. When he glances up, he catches Eddie’s eyes, and Eddie—

_Bad date?_ He mouths. The man blows out a breath and rolls his eyes, looking back at him like _you have no idea_. Eddie raises an eyebrow and nods at the door. The man waffles back and forth, clearly torn. 

Eddie laughs and the man grins shyly, rubbing at the back of his neck. It’s much more real, more open, and Eddie feels his face get warm. The other man blinks in surprise, sitting back in his chair—his thumb drags across his lower lip as his gaze drags over Eddie with a weight that he can feel from across the room. 

Eddie swallows hard and wets his lips, and when he tips his head toward the door again, the man seems to be considering it much more.

At least, until the redhead returns and drops back into her chair, once more leaning across the table, too close. The fake smile and the tension fall back into place immediately and Eddie…

He tries not to be a little disappointed when he leaves and the blond is still there.

* * *

The thing is though...it keeps happening. 

He sees the man again when he’s out on a run, when he’s in the farmer’s market, catches his eyes once more the next time he’s in the same coffee shop. He’s with a different woman that time, a little older with long, dark hair and as Eddie watches, she reaches for a corner of his muffin and gets her hand swatted playfully for her trouble. With the way she scoffs and shoves at his shoulder and the easy way he laughs, Eddie would bet just about anything she’s not another date. He feels even more certain when the man looks up and sees him, grinning widely and raising his hand in greeting. 

The woman looks over, her eyebrows shooting up as she looks him over and then looks back at the man, shoving his shoulder again. The man starts to get up, but then the barista calls out Eddie’s order, and he swears under his breath as he catches sight of the time, grabbing his coffee and racing out the door. He looks back over his shoulder with no small amount of regret and makes a face. 

_Sorry._

The other man shakes his head and shrugs, giving him a smaller smile. 

_Next time._

“What’s wrong with your face? You look weird,” Lena says when Eddie stumbles into the locker room with just enough time to spare before the start of his shift.

Eddie rolls his eyes and drains the rest of his coffee. “Nothing. It’s just my face.”

* * *

The third time, he gets the worst call of his life—Eddie barely registers _accident_ and _Christopher_ and _hospital_ before he’s off. He doesn’t remember how he gets to the hospital, mind blank and hands shaking, but he comes back to himself the moment he runs through the ER doors and sees his son with his legs swinging over the edge of a bed across the room.

“Dad, I’m fine,” Christopher insists. “I only have like four stitches in my arm and they don’t even hurt—Buck said I was super brave and that it probably won’t even scar—”

And there is so much that Eddie can’t deal with about that sentence that he latches onto the only thing he can, clearing his throat roughly and barely holding back the urge to go find a doctor to tell him everything immediately. 

“Who’s Buck?”

“The firefighter! He cut my seatbelt off and pulled me out of the car and held my hand in the ambulance with the paramedic because since I was _fine_ the other one went in the other ambulance. With Jenny and her dad. He was so awesome, dad—oh, he’s over there!”

Chris points and Eddie’s breath catches as the coffee shop blond walks around the corner in a familiar uniform. He freezes when he meets Eddie’s gaze, glancing between him and Christopher, and Eddie has to look away for a moment, blinking hard when his eyes burn.

_Thank you._ He offers when he can look back again.

He leaves it at that, even though his mind goes further. _Thank you for keeping him safe. Thank you for protecting the best part of me._

He thinks the other man—Buck, he has a name now, Buck—gets it though, because his look is soft and serious when he nods once in return. Eddie can’t quite make his feet move, can’t convince himself to leave Christopher’s side even for a second, so he just holds Buck’s gaze from across the room. Buck takes a step—

“Buck! Come on, time to go,” another man calls, and Buck looks over his shoulder, then back at Eddie for half an instant before lifting his hand in a small wave and walking away.

Next time, Eddie tells himself. Next time he sees him, they’re actually going to talk.

* * *

It happens on a call. 

An earthquake, to be specific. And Eddie’s team and a handful of other units are handling search and rescue at a parking garage that hadn’t been up to code. He’s in the middle of heading back into the wreck when he looks up and catches a familiar pair of eyes. Eddie gets all of a moment to enjoy the feeling before Buck’s eyes widen and he goes pale.

“Eddie—”

The floor gives way underneath him and everything goes black. 

He sees the eyes again when his own open once more while he’s being lifted onto a bed in a first aid tent.

“Hey,” Buck says quietly. 

“Hey.” Eddie’s mouth is dry, and his throat feels shredded, like he’s been gargling with rocks—which, he supposes isn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility depending on how much concrete came down with him. Buck’s face is streaked with dirt and there are cuts scattered across it, but he doesn’t even seem bothered. “Did you...did you pull me out?”

“I helped.”

“Thanks,” Eddie replies. “I’ve got—”

“Gotta make it home to your kid, I know,” Buck fills in. “He’s really great, by the way. I love kids, but some of them are better than others—you’ve got a pretty special one.”

“I know. I can’t take credit for that, but—I know.” Eddie wets his lips. “I didn’t get a chance to thank you properly for taking care of him.”

Buck shrugs and ducks his head. “Just doing my job.”

“Still…it meant a lot.”

Their eyes catch and hold and Eddie’s mouth goes dry for an entirely different reason. 

Buck sways in and Eddie pushes himself up on his elbows and—

“Buck!” 

Buck closes his eyes and swears under his breath.

“I’ll be right there!” He calls back.

Eddie laughs quietly and lays back down.

“I should…” Buck says, regret written across his face.

“Have dinner with me,” Eddie blurts out before Buck can walk away yet again. 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.”

Buck’s eyes sparkle before he kisses him. “Yeah, okay.”


End file.
